Philosophy
Introduction to Philosophy
1. What are the three major branches of philosophy and what questions do they deal with?
The three major branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology, logic and axiology. Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality. Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge. Logic is the study of the nature of arguments, while axiology is the study of the nature of value, indicating what is good and what does goodness mean.
2. Discuss the value of philosophy.
Every human being lives on the basis of an overarching philosophy, whether through rational analysis or by default. If a person does not analyze his personal philosophy, he nevertheless abides by a set of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, contradictions and slogans by default. It is therefore beneficial for man to explicitly examine his premises through logical deliberation to determine his philosophical code in life.
3. What is the difference between a deductive argument and an inductive argument?
A deductive argument is one in which if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true. Inductive arguments are arguments in which the premises make it probable that the conclusion is true.
4. Describe the steps in analyzing an argument.
Identify the premises and the conclusion.
The argument is to be put in its proper form, by stating the premises and then the conclusions.
The argument needs to be analyzed to determine mistakes in reasoning, and finding counter-examples to the claims.
Fairness and charitableness are necessary while interpreting the argument.
5. What are the two theories of knowledge, how does each determine the source of knowledge and how does each view the mind’s initial state?
The two theories of knowledge are rationalism and empiricism. According to rationalism, we have knowledge without appealing to experience. The source of knowledge is the mind and the mind’s initial state contains innate ideas. According to empiricism, all of our knowledge comes to us via sensory experience. The source of knowledge is sense experience and the initial state of the mind is a blank slate.
6. Name and explain the three positions discussed in class in answer to the question, “Is genuine knowledge possible?”
The question of whether true genuine knowledge is possible is answered differently by the positions held by objectivism, relativism and skepticism. According to objectivism, there is one set of universal truths or facts about the world that is independent of us. Relativism holds that there is no universal, objective knowledge of reality because all knowledge is relative to a person’s conceptual system and culture. Skepticism holds that it is not possible to have knowledge as all our beliefs can be doubted.
7. Describe Descartes’ dream argument. What it is meant to show?
In his dream argument, Descartes says that whether he is seated in front of a fire may be real or be a figment of a dream. Therefore, he asks, ‘how can I know that I am not now dreaming?’ (Hill). Thus, Descartes believes that we cannot trust our senses in our waking life.
8. What does Descartes mean by “Cogito”, “I think, therefore I am”? What does it allow him to do or to have?
When Descartes says ‘Cogito ergo sum’, or ‘I think, therefore I am’, he means to indicate that the mind provides the basis for knowledge. This argument allows humans to experience reality through the mind.
9. What is the difference between John Locke’s representational realism and George Berkeley’s idealism?
According to the tenets of ‘representational realism’ of John Locke, the mind is a ‘blank slate’ upon which experience places the materials of knowledge. In contrast, Berkeley’s ‘realism’ held that nothing existed independently of minds, and that real things were merely collections of the ideas in the mind of the perceiver.
10. Describe Berkeley’s argument for the existence of God.
Berkeley believed that all objects in the world were only ideas in the mind, and only minds could produce ideas. However, Berkeley observed that not all ideas were produced by the human mind. Therefore, Berkeley believed that such ideas were the product of another mind, separate from the human mind. Berkeley termed this external mind as ‘God’.
11. How does Hume describe his two classes of knowledge?
According to Hume, there are two classes of knowledge. The first relates to relations between ideas. Such knowledge is not dependent upon what exists in the world, and its negation implies a contradiction. The second class of knowledge relates to matters of fact that tell us something informative about the world and are derived from the senses. The negation of such knowledge does not imply a contradiction.
12. What is Hospers’ argument against skepticism?
Hospers believed that most of the knowing in daily life was based on the weak sense of knowing, which was challenged by the skeptics who required a strong sense of knowing for accepting anything to be true. Hospers argued that if no further tests could be specified to resolve a doubt about the veracity of any knowledge, then the doubt itself was meaningless. This formed the basis of Hospers’ negation of the logic of the Skeptics.
13. Explain the three traditional theories of truth.
The three traditional theories of truth are the correspondence, the coherence and the pragmatic theories. Correspondence theories see truth to correspond with objective reality, implying a sentence to be true only when it relates to the state of affairs as exists in the world. According to coherence theories, a man’s beliefs are true if they mirror those of his society and culture. Pragmatic theories of truth see truth as whatever is useful in the long run.
14. Explain Siegel’s argument against relativism. Why does he object to relativism?
Siegel argues that relativism is self-referentially incoherent. He argues that the tenet of relativism that there are no universal, objective truths is a claim about the world. If this claim is objective, then it contradicts the relativistic logic of nothing being absolute. Further, if the claim of nothing being objective is relative, then it is merely one person’s view and cannot be taken as a canon or rule. In either case, Siegel proves that the tenet of relativism gets defeated by the relativists’ own premise of everything being relative.
Work Cited
Hill, James. “Descartes’ Dreaming Argument and why we Might be Skeptical of it.” RichmondPhilosophy.net. 2004. Web. January 31, 2016.
